nute, Max. We--we ain't what you maybe think we are. To-morrow
two weeks we got to meet creditors and extension notes. We can't pay
with even twenty cents on the dollar. We're gone under, Max!"

"I--"

"We ain't got it to meet them with. Papa--if a man like papa couldn't
make it go nobody could--"

"Such a man, Mr. Teitlebaum, so honest, so--"

"Shh-h-h, mamma."

"It's our--my fault, Max. He was afraid even last year, but I--even then
I was the one that wanted the expense of the city. Mamma didn't want
it--he didn't--it--was me--I--I--"

"My fault, too, Poil--_ach, Gott_, my fault! How I drove him! How I
drove him!"

"We--we got to go back home, Max. We're going back and help him to
begin over again. We--we been driving him like a pack of wolves. He
never could refuse nobody nothing. If he thought mamma wanted the moon
up he was ready to go for it; even when we was kids he--"

"_Ach_, my husband, such a good provider he's always been! Such a
husband!"

"Always we got our way out of him. But to- night--to-night, Max, right
here in this chair all _little_ he looked all of a sudden. So little!
His back all crooked and all tired and--and I done it, Max--I ain't what
you think I am--oh, God, I done it!"

"_Ach_, my--"

"Don't cry, mamma. 'Sh-h-h-h! Ain't you ashamed, with Mr. Teitlebaum
standing right here? You must excuse her, Max, so terrible upset she is.
'Sh-h-h-h, mamma--'sh-h-h-h! We're going back home and begin over again.
'Sh-h-h-h! You won't have to dress for supper no more like you hate.
We'll be home in time for your strawberry-preserves season, mamma, and
rhubarb stew out of the garden, like papa loves. 'Sh-h-h-h! You must
excuse her, Max--you must excuse me, too, to-night--you--come some other
time--please."

"Pearlie!" He came closer to the circle of light, and his large features
came out boldly. "Pearlie, don't you cry neither, little girl--"

"I--I ain't."

"All what you tell me I know already."

"Max!"

"Mr. Teitlebaum!"

"You must excuse me, Mrs. Binswanger, but in nearly the same line of
business news like that travels faster than you think. Only to-day I
heard for sure--how--shaky things stand. You got my sympathies, Mrs.
Binswanger, but--but such a failure don't need to happen."

Mrs. Binswanger clutched two hands around a throat too dry to swallow.

"He can't stand it. He isn't strong enough. It will kill him. Always so
honest to the last penny he's been, Mr. Teitlebaum, but ne